Horses are obtained like other domestic animals, by taming and breeding at a pasture or by capturing from the enemy. They can help at a farm or pull a cart like oxen. Horses pull a lighter cart faster than on ox, but slow down much more with a heavy cart.
Any human can ride a horse if ordered to, giving the benefits of increased speed and carry weight to all their tasks. Horses can also be assigned to warriors by their equipment set, creating cavalry. Cavalry are not slowed as significantly by weight and heavy armor as infantry and receive several combat bonuses. Cavalry can use all the same equipment as infantry, with the exception of a crossbow, as well as horse armor.
Mounted warriors gain a damage bonus against infantry due to their height advantage. This also gives them a much greater chance to hit infantry on the head or torso instead of the legs; conversely, infantry are likely to hit the horse or the rider's legs. Infantry using a spear negate some of this advantage.
Ranged weapons have a greater chance of hitting cavalry than infantry and a large chance to hit the horse. A rider's shield only partially covers their horse from ranged fire, but a shield protects the horse and rider equally in melee.
Cavalry also gain increased damaged against both infantry and cavalry based on their movement speed, resulting in potentially devastating blows when charging into the enemy. A spear's increased reach will ensure that the charging warrior's blow lands first. In addition, there is extra impact damage from the momentum that cannot be blocked or negated by armor.
Cavalry are not momentarily slowed when the rider is attacking or is hit, but a horse's speed is reduced when it is wounded. They also cannot dodge an attack. Horses and their riders can be killed individually; dismounted warriors continue to fight on foot, and abandoned horses are vulnerable to capture by the enemy. Falling from a horse will make a warrior briefly unable to dodge or attack.
Full Version Features
Although horses now roam the map and can be hunted for food, taming horses as well as other domestic animals and creating cavalry are not accessible in the demo and will only be available in the full version at the end of the month.
The video above shows the ‘steamroller’ AI opponent, which will slowly build up a single, massive attack against the player and is vulnerable to early attack. This is one of several AI personalities that will be featured in the full release. There will also be several different player starting options.
New Demo Features
There are also several smaller features and improvements that are available in the demo right now. Carts can bring resources to construct a building, making expanding your base easier. Oxen will also perform this task the in full version.
The crossbow can be made once metal blacksmithing is researched; it fires slowly but has a slightly longer range and very high armor penetration. Combat balance in general has been improved, including movement speed penalties from armor and damage, as well as individual unit combat AI. Player issued attack orders are prioritized over automatically selected targets.
The starting positions for the player and AI are much more random. Wild animals avoid buildings while following meandering, unpredictable paths. Improved map textures and blends make the terrain look more natural.
Your AI opponent now sends out scouts to find your base before attacking; beware, as they will start searching the map early. The AI only targets buildings it has spotted, but will spread out its warriors to attack and search nearby. There are also many other smaller improvements to the AI.
This update also includes far too many fixes and small improvements to list. Notably, several significant performance fixes and optimizations will improve performance in longer games; a sound priority bug preventing many sounds from being heard is fixed.